UNC denied petition to delay release of football records

The N.C. Court of Appeals denied Wednesday the University’s petition to delay the release of records involving members of the UNC football team.

The court had previously granted the University’s motion to stay the release of the records until the petition had been considered.

The decision requires the University to release the records, though it can still file an appeal of Superior Court Judge Howard Manning’s April ruling.

The records in question include unredacted phone records of UNC’s athletic director Dick Baddour, head football coach Butch Davis and former assistant coach John Blake, as well as parking tickets issued to 11 student-athletes.

Amanda Martin, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said she does not know if the University has any avenues to further delay the records’ release.

“There may be some vehicle for them to try to do at the (N.C.) Supreme Court what they did at the Court of Appeals,” she said.

In May, Manning ordered the University to release records administrators claim are protected by the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The plaintiffs involved include The Daily Tar Heel, the (Raleigh) News & Observer and other media outlets.

Last year, the DTH submitted multiple records requests during an NCAA investigation of the UNC football team involving academic misconduct and improper relationships with agents.

University administrators blocked these requests, claiming that those records fell under the protection of FERPA.